Making a gouge

Edwin wanted to carve some details into his pinewood derby car.  So we made a gouge for him so that he could carve by hand.

We started by turning a wooden handle on the lathe

Then we moved on to metal; we took a 1/4" steel rod and turned it down to the width he needed for his detail work.  Then, we drilled out the center

once the center was drilled, we cut a bevel for the edge.  The bevel angle was taken to match a wood chisel.

After cutting the bevel angle, I polished it with 600 grid sandpaper.

Once polished nicely, I cut the tip into a semicircle with a file.  This was kind of rough, because I knew I would get it flat with a sharpening stone.  Then we parted it off

I reversed the part in the lathe chuck and beveled so that it would self-center into the handle.

Then I ground the cutting edge flat on the sharpening stone...

... and Edwin pressed it into the handle using the lathe tailstock quill.